The U.S. Supreme Court deemed geofence warrants to be searches under the Fourth Amendment, and the justices' ruling in Hunter spurs a conversation about what the bar should be for criminal appeal waivers.

Here, Law360 highlights access to justice stories arising from litigation, verdicts and judgments you may have missed.

U.S. Supreme Court

Justices Clarify Geofence Warrant Standards

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that geofence warrants, which compel technology companies to turn over users' location data to law enforcement, are "searches" under the Fourth Amendment.

Justices Toss 3rd Circ. Pot Gun Ruling, Leave 5th Circ. Intact

The U.S. Supreme Court has disposed of two cases questioning whether a federal law barring users of marijuana from lawful gun ownership runs afoul of the Second Amendment, following the justices' recent ruling on a similar matter.

Plea Deals Get Scrutiny In 'Hunter,' But Justices Stay Cautious

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Hunter v. U.S. brought ex-prosecutor Mary Fan back to the unease that had settled upon her decades earlier, as Justice Neil Gorsuch's concurring opinion struck her for its exploration of how the American criminal justice system has become a "conveyor belt of plea bargains" that favor prosecutorial coercion over jury trials.

Sotomayor Tells Judges To Eye Waivers Carefully After Hunter

Justice Sonia Sotomayor has urged judges to "consider carefully" whether to enforce collateral-review waivers in plea agreements after the high court's recent decision in Hunter v. U.S., but agreed with her fellow justices in declining to review a decision that may have left an "egregious error" in place.

Justices Find Middle Ground In Favoring Criminal Defendants

The U.S. Supreme Court's criminal law rulings this term often sided with defendants, ruling in ways that defied simple conservative and liberal labels.

Vacated

3rd Circ. Nixes Life Term In Fatal Drug Sale Case

The Third Circuit has vacated a life sentence issued to a man convicted of selling drugs that ultimately killed the buyer, ruling that while his conviction was valid, the lower court improperly considered prior state law drug convictions in fashioning the sentence.

Convictions Upheld

3rd Circ. Says Pro Se Defendant Can't Get Trial Redo

The Third Circuit has said it would not reward a self-represented defendant's "chicanery," upholding a man's conviction for child sexual abuse after finding he was aware he was facing a functional life sentence before proceeding to trial pro se, and that a misstatement by the trial judge in his case did not change that.

NJ Cops Can Accept Warrantless Location Info From Feds

A New Jersey appeals court has said it won't overturn the gun trafficking conviction of a man who was arrested in part due to cellphone location data that was acquired by federal law enforcement in Ohio, which didn't require a warrant to get the information.

Sentencings

Mich. Panel Orders Age-Based Resentencing For Murderers

A Michigan state appellate panel has upheld the murder convictions of two men in the 2011 robbery and fatal shooting of a Flint woman, but ruled that both must be resentenced under state law, because they were 19 years old when they committed the crimes.

Immunity

Sotomayor Says 7th Circ. 'Clearly Wrong' In Immunity Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to take up a case over whether qualified immunity was correctly granted to two Wisconsin prison guards who left a naked man in an often freezing cold cell for 23 hours, drawing a dissent from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

5th Circ. Backs Cops In Texas Detainee Death Suit

The Fifth Circuit has ruled that three police officers were correctly granted qualified immunity from a civil lawsuit alleging they were deliberately indifferent to a man in their custody who died as a result of a mistreated medical emergency.

Ex-Judge, Sheriff Ruled Immune From Ga. Wrongful Arrest Suit

A Georgia federal judge has dismissed a civil rights suit over an alleged wrongful arrest against a former Fulton County Superior Court judge, a sheriff and Fulton County, finding that the judge's and others' conduct is protected under immunity as representatives of the judiciary and the state.

Jury Instructions

Ohio Justices Say Juries Can Sort Out Carbon-Copy Counts

A divided Ohio Supreme Court has held that in cases where a criminal defendant faces multiple carbon-copy charges in an indictment, jury instructions are not required to assign specific unique conduct to each count in order for a jury to convict.

Evidence

7th Circ. Backs Fraud Conviction Over WhatsApp Evidence

The Seventh Circuit has affirmed the wire fraud and money laundering conviction of a man who challenged the admission of incriminating WhatsApp messages between him and an uncharged co-conspirator into evidence, saying the government's use of his own pretrial discovery disclosures to authenticate the messages didn't violate his constitutional right to testify.

Mass. Justices Affirm Posttrial Forensic Exam Of Cellphones

Massachusetts' highest court has ruled that a man convicted of murder may seek posttrial access to cellphones to look for potential evidence in support of a new trial, explaining that a 2012 statute expanding access to forensic testing for biological material also applies to digital and electronic evidence.

NJ Justices OK Review Of Accuser's Mental Health Records

A divided New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that a criminal defendant accused of sexually assaulting his niece made the rare showing required to obtain a judge's private review of the alleged victim's mental health records, finding a trial court properly applied the state's heightened discovery standard.

Phone Warrant In Murder Case Passes Conn. Justices' Muster

The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that a trial court was correct in refusing to suppress a murder suspect's cellphone data, saying the warrant was "sufficiently particular."

Mich. Justices Void LSD User's Rape Confession, Order Retrial

The Michigan Supreme Court has granted a new trial to a man convicted of sexually assaulting his friend while on LSD, saying jurors should not have heard testimony that the defendant confessed while he was still confused and intoxicated.

Mass. Court Orders New Sex Abuse Trial Over Testimony

A man found guilty of raping and sexually abusing girls in his family is entitled to a new trial, a Massachusetts appeals panel has said, finding that evidence of his prior bad acts was admitted improperly and may have overwhelmed and prejudiced the jury.

Immigration

2nd Circ. Says Salvadoran Prison Conditions Were Overlooked

The Second Circuit has said an immigration judge failed to consider the possible abuse a man fighting deportation could face in El Salvadoran prisons because of inhumane conditions and human rights abuses.

New Cases

Mass. Man Says ICE Jailed Him Despite Lawful Status

A 62-year-old Massachusetts man was detained for two days last year by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite offering proof that he was in the country legally, according to a federal suit.

--Editing by Tim Ruel.